Pañca kośā – The five sheaths
annamayaḥ prāṇamayaḥ manomayaḥ vijñānamayaḥ ānandamayaśceti .
What are the five sheaths?
They are Annamaya, Pranamaya, Manomaya, Vijnanamaya and Anandamaya.
annamaya kośā – The food sheath
अन्नरसेनैव वृद्धिं प्राप्य
तदन्नमयः कोशः स्थूलशरीरम् ।
annarasenaiva bhūtvā annarasenaiva vṛddhiṃ prāpya annarūpapṛthivyāṃ
yadvilīyate tadannamayaḥ kośaḥ sthūlaśarīram .
What is annamaya kośā? That which is born from the essence of food, grows by the essence of food and merges into the earth, which is of the nature of food is called the food sheath or the gross body.
prāṇamaya kośā – The vital air sheath
prāṇādyāḥ pañcavāyavaḥ vāgādīndriyapañcakaṃ prāṇamayaḥ kośaḥ .
What is Prāṇamayaḥ kośaḥ? The five physiological functions like prana, etc., and the five organs of action like speech etc., together form the vital air sheath.
manomaya kośā – The mental sheath
manaśca jñānendriyapañcakaṃ militvā yo bhavati sa manomayaḥ kośaḥ .
What is Manomayaḥ kośaḥ?The mind and the five sense organs of perception together form the mental sheath.
vijñānamaya kośā – The intellectual sheath
बुद्धिज्ञानेन्द्रियपञ्चकं
buddhijñānendriyapañcakaṃ militvā yo bhavati sa vijñānamayaḥ kośaḥ .
What is Vijñānamayaḥ kośaḥ? The intellect and the five sense organs of perception together is the intellectual sheath. It is subtle, and pervades the former three sheaths. It controls the other three. It constitutes the intellect and the five sense organs or perception. The five senses are common to both the mental and intellectual sheaths as perception involves both the mind and the intellect.
ānandamaya kośā – The intellectual sheath
evameva kāraṇa śarīra bhūtāvidyāstha malina sattvaṃ
priyādivṛttisahitaṃ sat ānandamayaḥ kośaḥ .
What is Anandamaya kośaḥ?
Established in ignorance, which is of the form of the causal body, of impure nature, united with thoughts like priya etc., is the bliss sheath.
These are the five sheaths.
pañcakośātita – Beyond the five sheaths
मदीयं शरीरं मदीयाः प्राणाः मदीयं मनश्च
मदीया बुद्धिर्मदीयं अज्ञानमिति स्वेनैव ज्ञायते
तद्यथा मदीयत्वेन ज्ञातं कटककुण्डल गृहादिकं
स्वस्माद्भिन्नं तथा पञ्चकोशादिकं स्वस्माद्भिन्नम्
मदीयत्वेन ज्ञातमात्मा न भवति ॥
madīyaṃ śarīraṃ madīyāḥ prāṇāḥ madīyaṃ manaśca
madīyā buddhirmadīyaṃ ajñānamiti svenaiva jñāyate
tadyathā madīyatvena jñātaṃ kaṭakakuṇḍala gṛhādikaṃ
svasmādbhinnaṃ tathā pañcakośādikaṃ svasmādbhinnam
madīyatvena jñātamātmā na bhavati ..
Just as bangles, earrings, house etc., known as ‘mine are all other than knower ‘me’, so too, the five sheaths etc., are known by the self as my body, my pranas, my mind, my intellect, and my knowledge and are therefore not the self.
